A Life of Sincere ThanksGiving by ThanksLiving

Every year, I look forward to November’s main holiday, Thanksgiving. But I really desire to live a life of ThanksGiving to God by ThanksLiving for Him year-round.

Although Christmas is one of my favorite holidays, I enjoy celebrating the time set aside for giving thanks.

Maybe you’re one of those people who already has your home Christmas-ready. That’s awesome for you. I say, To each her own.

Yet, it’s not my cup of tea. Not even holiday spiced tea. For me, I like both feet firmly planted in our thankful holiday before moving on. But the weekend after giving thanks? Then, I’m all about hanging ornaments, positioning blinking lights, and spreading Christmas cheer.

You see, I’m a straight lines kind of girl. So I never like to blur the lines of one holiday and cross over into another one at the same time.

Further, my family knows how much rule-keeping runs through my veins. Perhaps, this plays a role. Regardless of the reason, celebrating holidays distinctly, separately, and in chronological order remains my thing. 

ThanksGiving Around the Table

This makes the third year to host my immediate family (kids and grandkids) and part of my husband’s family in our home for ThanksGiving. I enjoy everything about it: gathering with loved ones, decorating the table with my little pilgrims and a few pumpkins, and doing a portion of the cooking with my guests bringing dishes to add to our spread.

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Six Steps to Effective Prayer and Giveaway

My guest this week is a sweet lady I met at a writers conference. Her new book on prayer releases November 18. And she’s giving a copy away on this blog post.

By Penny Cooke

“In this manner, therefore, pray…” (Matthew 6:9a NKJV)

Do you ever find it difficult to pray, to remember or find time to pray? If so, you are not alone. We are all busy.

Even when we have good intentions, we can end up discouraged as the craziness of life takes over so often.  

If I’m not prepared, my cell phone will chime, my to-do list will nag, and my stomach will growl in duet with the dog begging to go out (and in, and out…).

I begin to question, When can I go to meet with You, God? (Psalm 42:2)

Jesus gave us instructions for prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 (The Lord’s Prayer). If we look carefully, we’ll see He covered specific elements of prayer. Perhaps He didn’t mean it to be a rote prayer, but a guide. After all, He had just told the disciples not to recite vain repetitions (Matthew 6:7).

What are these elements? Here is an acrostic for prayer that explains the elements Jesus taught.

P – Proactively Pursue Prayer.

Jesus left us an example of intentionally getting away from it all to pray (Mark 1:35, Luke 5:16, 6:12, 9:28). Scripture urges us repeatedly to proactively pursue prayer (Matthew 26:41, Luke 18:1, Ephesians 6:18, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, and 1 Timothy 2:1). Besides spontaneous prayers we may pray throughout the day, it is essential to take the time to be alone with God to pray fervently (James 5:16). 

In today’s busyness, we need to be proactive about a lot of things if we’re going to get everything done. It is no different with prayer. And if we have so much to do, shouldn’t prayer be on the top of our list? 

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The Gratitude Dare: Cultivating Grateful Hearts

It’s that time of year. We know how the season is supposed to go down. Besides pumpkin pie and turkey, we are encouraged to cultivate attitudes of gratitude.

Such as these 4 attitudes.

Count our blessings.

Be thankful.

Express our gratefulness.

Show our generosity.

And maybe we do and are these things during Thanksgiving. Perhaps some of us manage to pull it off most of November or even the entire year. 

But when we look at this list, do we think of our lives, our family, and more importantly, our God?

Because sometimes I epitomize these attitudes and other times not so much. A few years ago, as I reflected on gratitude, God spoke to my heart. 

Grateful people are generous people. Generous people are grateful people. 

It proves true with me. When gratefulness rises in my heart, I’m more generous with my money and time and service. Likewise, when my generosity bubbles over on others, gratefulness swells in my soul.

Then, I express gratitude for what the Lord has given me and for the great things He has done. I realize I’m blessed beyond measure.

Grateful people are generous people. Generous people are grateful people. #gratitude #grateful Share on X

Yet, how do we cultivate attitudes of gratitude in all the areas of our lives, for the people in our lives, and for the God who gives us life? Even further, are gratitude, generosity, and thanksgiving possible January through December—not just during November or on Thanksgiving Day?

And where do we start? Let’s use the list in the introduction and unpack each one.

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